A review by wheatstalk
Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

adventurous emotional hopeful informative fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Really great adventure and detailed setting/environment that’s understandable and easily immersed in. I loved the African spirituality magic system and the depictions of the characters, their powers and the land around them. The language is so visual it makes sense the series is becoming a movie.

However, the character development felt like a speed run. No one was fleshed out as being more than their trauma and relationships felt surface level. There’s also a lot of repetitive lines and some visual descriptions, though poetic, did lose me a bit. I hope the second book focuses more on female friendship as I really enjoyed the near last chapter hair braiding scene. Also, the only respectable man in the book is ironically the pickpocketer, every other guy sounds clinically insane at times (cough, Inan, cough).

Still overall a great book and if you pick this up just get the second while you’re at it.

TW on genocide & violent oppression. Brief body mutilation/scarring near the end which felt most impactful.
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